Shoulder and body brace.



W. D. HARDY. SHOULDER AND BDDY'BRACE. APPLICATIONHLED SEPT. 15. 1911..

1,293QQ89. I Patented Feb.4,19 19.

following is UNITED S TES PATENT orrron,

WILLOUGHBY D. HARDY, OF NEW YORK, N i Y.

SHOULDER am) new" amen.

" To allwhom it may concern: I

' Be it known that I, TILLOUGHBY D. HARDY, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at New York, in the county of New 'York and State of-New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shoulderand Body. Braces, of which the a specification;

This invention relates to an improved shoulder and body mary object to'providea device of this character so .constructedf'that the pressure101- elastic straps 'willbe' brought to bear for holding the shouldersof the wearer thrown ack as well as holding the body in an erectposition.

The inventionhas as a further object to providea device employing a beltarranged to be fitted about the wa st and yieldably connected with thebody or back brace of the-device for holding the body of the wearererect and wherein the said :belt will also form a support for theabdomen.

And the invention has as a still further object to rovide a constructionwherein the belt will e adjustably connected with the body or back braceof the device so that the belt may be properly positioned yvith respectto the waist line.

Other and incidental objects will appear as the description proceeds andin the draw- ,ings' wherein I have illustrated the preferred embodimentof the invention and wherein similar referencecharacters designatecorresponding parts throughout the several views:

Figure 1 is a rear elevation showing my im roved deviceapplied, and

ig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view showin the of the evice;

In carrying out the invention, I employ .a sectional body or back brace10, the sections of which" are formed with strai ht meeting edges andare connected by a p urality of elastic straps 11. The body may beformed of any suitable material and is provided at its upper extremitywith upwardly extending reduced portions or tabs 12 carried one by eachof the sections of the body and at its lower extremity with laterallyextending reduced portions or tabs 13, oneof whiclris also arranged uponeach of the body sections. Extending from the tabs 12 are shoulderstraps 14 connected with the said tabs by elastic strips 14 stitched orSpecification of Letters Tatent. Application filed September is, 1917.Serial No. 191,593.

the body.

brace and has as its pri-- padding of the shoulder straps otherwisesecured to the tabs. The straps 14 are arranged to extendlin front ofthe extremities thereof are adjustably connected Patented Feb. 4, 1919;

"shoulders beneath the arms and the free H to buckles 15 secured uponthe tabs 13 of.

The intermediate portions of these straps 2 of tliedrawings, providedwith suitable pads 16 to bear against the shoulders.

are, as shown in detail in Fig.

Extending from the lower inner corners 0f the sections of the body 10are down- 17 and 'sup wardly directed elastic straps ported by thesestraps is a belt 18. Secured to the belt midway the ends thereof, arebuckles 19 engaging with the free extremities of the straps 17 foradjustably connecting the belt with. the body 10. At its free ends, thebelt 18 is adjustably connected with thecoacting elements of asuitablebelt buckle 20 for holding the belt in position extending aboutthe waist of the wearer.

As will now be clear, the shoulder-straps 14 may be so adjusted aboutthe shoulders of the wearer that the elastic straps 11 connectin thesections of the body 10 will be norma ly stretched to exert an elasticpres sure tendin to hold the shoulders thrown back. At t e same time,the elastic straps 17 may be so adjusted that the said straps will benormally stretched between the belt a 18 and the body 10 to exert anelastic pressure upon the shoulders tending to holdthe body in an erectposition. This effect will be particularly pronounced should thewearerof the device'bend oven-when the straps 17 will be furtherstretched to consequently exert an increased pressure upon the shoulderstendin ,to return the body to anerect'position. s shown in Fig. 1 of thedrawings, the rear portion of the belt adjacentfthe connections for thebuckles 19 preierahly worn to fit'midway of the small the back,,whilethe forward portion of the belt is arranged toengage beneath theoutward curve of the abdomen so that the belt will thus have a'securepurchase about the wai t. 1 Furthermore, by thus applyin the belt? thesaid belt will also provide ai i abdonlinallsupport.

It will therefore be seen that I provide a particularly simplevandefi'icient construction for the'purpose set forth and a device which:will not only act to yieldably hold the shoulders of the wearer thrownback but will also act to yieldably hold the body in an erect position.

Having thus described theinvention, whatis claimedas new is:

1. A combined shoulder and body support comprising a back bracesubstantially panduriform in shape and formed of mating sections havingtheir inner vertical edges disposed parallel with each other, transverseelastic straps connecting the sections of the back brace and tending tohold said sections normally in juxtaposition to each other}, shoulderstraps forming a connection be-- tween the upperand lower ends of thesections comprising the back brace, a non-elasticbody belt spaced fromthe back brace and spaced adjustable elastic straps secured to.

comprising a back brace formed of mating sections having their upperends reduced to form diverging shoulder tabs and their lower endsextended laterally to produce body tabs, the inner vertical edges of thesections of the back brace being parallel and the lower edges of saidsections being curved "upwardly and gradually merged into the body tabs,buckles secured to the body tabs,

non-elastic'shoulder straps secured directly to. said buckles, elasticstraps forming a connection between the shoulder straps and the shouldertabs, a body belt of non-elastic material spaced from the back brace andhaving spaced buckles rigidly secured to the rear portion thereof,transverse elastic straps connecting the sections of the back brace andadjustable elastic straps secured to and extending in a straight linefrom the curved lower edges of the sections of the back brace near theinner vertical edges thereof and connected with the buckles on the bodybelt.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

. WILLQUGHBY D. HARDY. [L- 5-]

